(1924- )
President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. He and his secretary of state, James Baker (1989-93) focused on low-key efforts to maintain the dialogue between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization established in the last days of the previous Ronald Reagan administration. Bush and Baker persuaded the Yitzhak Shamir-led government not to respond militarily to the 39 Scud missiles fired at Israel by Iraq during the first Persian Gulf War (1991). The Bush administration pressured the Shamir government to participate in the Madrid Middle East Peace Conference (October 1991), and the two governments became embroiled in a rare public dispute, with senior White House officials threatening to withhold approval of loan guarantees for Israel's resettlement of immigrants from the former Soviet Union unless the Shamir government modified its settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
See also Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Historical Dictionary of Israel. Bernard Reich David H. Goldberg. Edited by Jon Woronoff..